Ride With Me (Paige and Jace) novel Chapter 68

CHAPTER 41

+25 Point

CHAPTER 41

e lead attacker took another careful step, his attention fixed on the staircase leading to my

apartment. He never saw me move.

stepped out from behind the motorcycle lift, rotated my hips the way Uncle Will had drilled into me years ago and drove the wrench into the inside of his forearm just below the elbow.

A sharp crack echoed through the workshop. The pry bar clattered onto the concrete as the man’s arm folded unnaturally and his scream shattered the silence.

The others spun toward the sound.

“So much for quiet.” I muttered.

The second man charged without thinking. His mistake.

He grabbed for my shoulder but I pivoted sideways, caught his wrist with both hands and used his own momentum to throw him across the front of a customer’s motorcycle. His knife skidded across the concrete floor before I kicked it beneath a workbench. He tried to stand but the heavy wrench connected cleanly with the side of his helmet.

The impact sent him crashing back to the floor where he remained motionless. The remaining men hesitated. For just a second. Just long enough.

One of them lunged from my left. Another came straight at me. I backed toward the center aisle where I had room to move, slipped inside the first attack, and wrapped my forearm around the

man’s neck.

Uncle Will had always insisted that strength mattered far less than leverage.

“Use what they’re giving you.” He used to say.

The man fought violently for only a few seconds before his movements became weaker. I lowered him carefully onto the concrete after he lost consciousness. Three down.

The fourth attacker finally drew a pistol and everything slowed. He raised it and I moved behind the nearest engine stand as a shot exploded through the workshop.

Metal sparked behind me and another round struck the tool cabinet. I reached beneath my shirt, drew the pistol from the concealed holster and stepped out just enough to see him advancing.

“Don’t.” I warned but he ignored me.

Another step and I fired once. The shot struck his thigh. He cried out and collapsed immediately, the pistol sliding from his grasp as he grabbed at his injured leg.

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CHAPTER 41

The workshop fell eerily quiet again. Only the injured man’s groans broke the silence.

+25 Point

The final two Black Reapers looked at one another. This wasn’t how tonight was supposed to go. One rushed toward the rear exit and the other grabbed a length of pipe from beside the wall and swung wildly.

I ducked beneath it and felt the wind of the swing pass over my head and drove my shoulder into his chest making him stumble backward.

The wrench slipped from my fingers, but my right fist connected with his jaw before he could recover. He staggered into the side of a motorcycle lift and slid to the floor.

The last man looked around at his companions. One unconscious. One unconscious. One unconscious. One bleeding and one clutching a broken arm.

His confidence disappeared almost instantly.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” He muttered as I leveled the pistol at him.

“I’d recommend leaving.” I said.

For a heartbeat neither of us moved. Then the sound of approaching motorcycles rolled through the night. Loud, fast and growing closer every second. The attacker’s eyes widened.

“They’re here.” I said.

He bolted through the broken rear doorway just as several more engines roared into the parking lot. Headlights flooded the workshop through the open roller door.

Motorcycles stopped hard enough that tires chirped against the pavement. Boots hit the ground almost simultaneously. Jace came through the entrance first with Derek, Cole, Hunter and half the Iron Vipers immediately behind him.

Every one of them looked ready for a fight but they stopped dead. Silence settled across the

workshop.

Five Black Reapers lay scattered across the concrete. One held his shattered arm and another groaned while clutching his bleeding leg and three others remained unconscious exactly where they had fallen.

I stood in the middle of the workshop with grease streaked across my shirt, a wrench hanging loosely from one hand and the pistol still pointed toward the rear doorway where the surviving

attackers had disappeared.

For several long seconds nobody spoke and I slowly lowered the pistol. Then I looked at Jace.

“You’re late.” I said.

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CHAPTER 41

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Hunter blinked and Cole looked from me to the unconscious men and then back again. Even Derek

seemed unable to find words.

Finally, he let out a slow breath and shook his head.

“Remind me never to underestimate the mechanic again.” Derek said.

A few nervous laughs escaped the men behind him, although most of them still looked as though

they were trying to process what they were seeing.

Jace walked toward me carefully with his eyes searched me from head to toe.

“You hurt?” He asked and I shook my head.

“I’m fine.” I said.

He looked around the workshop again before returning his attention to me. Relief washed across

his face so completely that it almost hurt to see. He didn’t look angry or betrayed.

If anything, he looked grateful beyond words that I was still standing. Without saying anything else, he closed the remaining distance and wrapped his arms around me.

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